David Hunter: Persecuting others isn't Christian ideal

Sam Venable, a colleague at the News Sentinel and fellow geezer-in-training, was lambasted in this paper’s Letters to the Editor section a couple of weeks back.

He was accused of “quoting Bible verses,” advocating tolerance and compassion for “mosque builders in Murfreesboro,” while showing scorn for “fellow Christians” Paula Deen and Sarah Palin.

Now, let me be clear, up front, that Venable doesn’t need my help; he was writing columns when I was driving around in a police car, making the county safe for democracy and the American way of life.

However, since I concur with his views on both of the women under discussion, and on occasion kneel at the same altar for communion as Venable, I just couldn’t let the letter go by without some commentary. I comment for a living, you know.

To get to the heart of this matter, we need to define Christianity. Those who claim to be Christians are followers of Jesus, a rabbi from a little town called Nazareth in the Galilee section of Israel, and is believed by followers to be the savior of the world, who was crucified for making such a claim.

The Nicene Creed, which was first written in the church council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) and polished at the council of Constantinople (359 A.D.), sums up the beliefs of 99.9 percent of the professing Christians in the world — even those who never heard of it. There are exceptions, but they are few. So, the differences that make up only a tiny portion of the beliefs of most Christians are responsible for all denominations, cults and sects — none of which were specified by the founder, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus didn’t say there was a particular phrase that had to said to achieve salvation or that anyone had to believe the end of days would be post-millennial, pre-millennial or a-millennial. He never got into specifics about baptism by immersion, aspersion or sprinkling. He was immersed in a river because it was handy and traditional, and there was no baptistry nearby because there were no churches.

Yet each of these inconsequential subjects and others have divided Christians at various times.

What Jesus was very specific about was loving one’s neighbor, and he defined “neighbor” with his parable of the Good Samaritan; not judging or rejecting others (very specific about this one, too), but ministering to whoever needed help. The young rabbi was very clear that merely claiming to be Christian would not stand up with him. He wanted evidence in the form of feeding and caring for widows, orphans and the poor — the “least of them.”

So, to the reader who was offended by Venable’s defense of “mosque builders in Murfreesboro,” show me in the New Testament where Jesus said to persecute and interfere with anyone else, and I’ll show you where he said in numerous places not to do it.

Calling another human being a scornful, disgusting name, as Deen did (or allowing her brother to continue to do it), and charging a traumatized young woman for a rape kit to prove the crime against her, as Palin did, do not fall into the category of Christian behavior, especially for people who make a big production of their faith.

Talking faith no more makes one a Christian than sleeping in a garage makes one a car.